Tourist&#39;s auto tent



Patented Mar. 29, 1927.

UNITED STATES FRANK D. FRAZEE, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.

TOURISTS AUTO TENT.

Application filed February 18, 1924. Serial No. 693,510.

This invention relates to tents of a type that are designed for tourists purposes when camping when on a tour in which connection a tent that has merits for such camping purposes must provide in its structure the elements that will enable the tourist to enjoy comforts and conveniences as well as quick and easy means of setting up and taking down and folding up and packing such tents.

In this connection my invention is particularly designed to provide not only a well ventilated and spacious quarters for comfortable moving about but especially designed to provide a maximum of overhead room at a minimum cost without the use of a center pole for supporting the top or of any frame structure to rest on the tops of the tent poles to provide supporting means for the top; in which it will be observed my invention not only provides for added convenience but also for reduction of expense in providing such convenience.

I attain the objects of my invention by the material elements of its design which will be carefully described in the specifications, recited in the claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals indicate the same structural parts in the several figures.

The figures will now be explained. Fig. 1 is a perspective of the tourists auto tent of my invention drawn in such a way that the walls and top appear to be transparent to enable the reader to more successfully understand the detailed structure of all parts of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the tourists auto tent of my invention. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the tourists auto tent of my invention, Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the same structure.

Fig. 5 is a top View or plan view of the,

made to eliminate such inconvenience the result especially in some cases has been an expensive skeleton framework adapted to rest on the top of the tent poles beneath the top cover for the support of the cover.

In my invention I provide not only a convenient and easy tent to handle but also a tent which provides a proportionately large area of the top cover that will be entirely in the clear above the head of the average tourist when standing erect anywhere near the central area thereof within the tent.

When the tourist is ready to set up the tent for the night as is the usual practice he seeks out the desirable location for his tent which for this tent will be a rectangular area. -He spreads out the tent o a position that will make it convenient to find the places in it where the tent poles are supposed to fit. that all supporting poles are placed within the wall aligned of the periphery of the tent which provides for one of the particular merits of this design since it eliminates the necessity for a center supporting pole,

When raising the tent the edge of the top cover which happens to be the highest part of the tent, and which rests above the entrance normally is pushed up by and supported by supporting poles 1 and 2. Follow ing this the highest point in the rear wall of the tent is pushed up to its normal position and supported by pole 3, which for drainage purposes stands slightly shorter than poles 1 and 2. Following this the guy ropes 33, 36 and 37 are stretched to their normal positions for supporting their respective tent poles, after which poles 8 and 9 are attached to the respective corners of the car shelter 18 and erected to a vertical position in support thereof and substantially held in this position by guy ropes 31 and 32 respectively. Following this guy ropes 27, 28, 29 and 30 are stretched to a normal tension for supporting the front and rear walls respectively in their normal vertical plane, after which poles 4, 5, 6 and 7 are placed in their normal positions to bring the end walls to their normal positions forming a vertical plane across the ends of the tent to the height of poles 4, 5, 6 and 7. Following this guy ropes 34 and 35 are stretched to their normal positions for holding the end walls substantially in their normal vertical plane.

A curtain 15 is adapted to be used for In this tent it will be noticed covering the entrance and when it is not needed it may be rolled up as is shown in Fig. l. Screened and protected window openings 12, 13 and let are provided in walls 21, 26 and 25 respectively for purposes of light and ventilation.

In a careful study of the merited struc tural elements of this design it will be observed that an outstanding merit is the provision in its design for eliminating necessity for a center top supporting pole and in this connection it will be particularly noticed that there is not a pole anywhere in the tent interior that stands out away from the wall line of the tent in the way. This is made possible in the mean time without even the use of a skeleton frame work which in certain tent designs may have been adapted to bridge across the area between the tops of the tent poles to carry in suspension the tent cover on such an elevated base of support. I accomplish the elimination of necessity for center pole supports in a very practical way which is as follows: Vhen pole 3 is set up in the rear wall of the tent opposite the center of the entrance the tensile strain on guy rope 33 supporting this pole causes a stretching strain across the top along ridges respectively connecting the tops of poles 1 and 2 with pole 3 respectively. This stretching action is carried simultaneously from the top of pole 2 to the top of pole 9 and from the top of pole 1 to the top of pole 8 respectively.

It will be here observed that with this tensile strain centering at the top of pole 3 it tends to produce a taut triangular plane overhead in the tent just where it is most needed and this without the necessity for any inconvenient center pole. In this connection it will be particularly observed that there is apparently no other possible way to get such an overhead room in the tent so conveniently and economically, effectively and neat in appearance as this method of centering the strain at one point in the rear wall at the top of pole 3 and causing the pull across the top to be exerted simultaneouslv along the lines of an isosceles triangle to the tops of poles 1 and 2. This principle it will be observed of getting a maximum of overhead room at a minimum of expense and diiticulty is geometrically and scientifically correct.

Another merit in the design of this tent is to be noted, in the arrangement of the supporting poles 1, 2 and 3 that makes it possible to hang partition curtains between poles 2 and 8 and between poles 1 and 3 respectively thus setting 011' the two ends of the tent into private rooms if desired leaving the central portion open for general use.

In this tent provision is made for placing cots across the ends or parallel with the rear wall near the ends as the choice may be.

It is to be noted that the relative distance between poles 1 and 2 may vary within practical limits and it is optional whether a pole is used at points 10 and 11 in the end walls and certain other minor adjustments may be made and stay within the spirit and scope of this invention.

Having thus described the nature of my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A tourists auto tent of the character described adaptcd to cover a rectangular area and having perpendicular walls supporting the top; said top comprising three sections including a central section of a triangular shape and a pair of oppositely disposed end sections each of which forms a quadrilateral containing two adjacent right angles, one acute angle and an obtuse angle; the front perpendicular Wall of the tent terminating in its highest elevation in a centrally disposed horizontal line over the entrance to the tent; said line forming the base line of said triangular central top section whose apex is located at a slightly lower level at a point over the perpendicular rear wall of the tent; said end sections of said top adapted to slope endwardly from the corresponding sides of said triangular top section until they meet the tops of the perpendicular end walls of the tent; a centrally disposed entrance in the front wall of the tent provided with an awning for optionally shading the same or for closing the tent as described and for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand this 12th day of February 1924.

FRANK D. FRAZEE. 

